The singer reportedly lost more than 180,000 followers after blasting her fan base on social media.

Doja Cat is speaking out. A month after the 27-year-old rapper reportedly lost more than 180,000 Instagram followers for speaking negatively about her fans, she addressed the situation.

“Seeing all these people unfollow me makes me feel like I’ve defeated a large beast that’s been holding me down for so long and it feels like I can reconnect with the people who really matter and love me for who I am and not for who I was,” she wrote on her Instagram Story. “I feel free.”
Instagram / Doja Cat
The same day Doja Cat released her statement, the singer was announced as one of three cover stars for Harper’s BAZAAR‘s September ’23 ICONS issue. In the accompanying interview, which was conducted prior to all of the unfollowing drama, Doja Cat praises her fans.

“I appreciate when people speak up for someone who is getting bullied or attacked by internet trolls. … Some of the most moving moments for me have been when my fans have stood up for me or for other people,” she says. “That’s fighting for something real. I really appreciate that because people like to s**t-talk.”

She also addresses why her personal choices — shaving her head or eyebrows, for instance — become such a big deal online.

“My theory is that if someone has never met me in real life, then, subconsciously, I’m not real to them. So when people become engaged with someone they don’t even know on the internet, they kind of take ownership over that person. They think that person belongs to them in some sense,” she says. “And when that person changes drastically, there is a shock response that is almost uncontrollable. … I’ve accepted that that’s what happens. So I put my wigs on and take them off. I shave my head or my eyebrows. I have all the freedom in the world.”

Despite all the chatter surrounding her, Doja Cat reveals that she doesn’t consider herself an icon.

“I think I deserve love and respect from the people that I love and respect back — and I guess respect means different things to some people,” she says. “I put myself out there on social media and TV. I shoot my image out onto these screens. But I don’t really put myself out there in real life. I don’t go to clubs. I stick to creating.”
Mario Sorrenti for Harper’s Bazaar
The social media drama started in July when Doja Cat blasted her fan base for referring to themselves as “kittenz” or “kitten.”

She tweeted, “My fans don’t get to name themselves s**t. If you call yourself a ‘kitten’ or f**king ‘kittenz’ that means you need to get off your phone and get a job and help your parents with the house,” she wrote on Twitter.

When a fan account who uses the handle @thekittenzweb asked, “What should I change my name to since you don’t like the term kitten[?]” Doja Cat responded with, “Just delete the entire account and rethink everything it’s not too late.”

Some of her largest fan accounts went on to delete their page in response to her tweets.

Doja Cat also came under fire after a fan tweeted, “I wanna hear you say (I do love you guys),” to which the singer responded, “I don’t though cuz I don’t even know y’all.”

Another fired back, writing, “And we don’t know you. but we have supported you through thick and thin. mind you you’d be NOTHING without us. you’d be working at a grocery store making songs on f**king garage band miss high school drop out…..” Doja Cat doubled down, tweeting, “Nobody forced you idk why you’re talking to me like you’re my mother b**ch you sound like a crazy person.”